dennis: we want you to think about this as the investors. 76% describe themselves as very happy. there is hope out there. capitalism investing requires hope. cheryl: this is markets now. dipping below the 13,000 level. it is, at this point, negative, for the week. let's send it to melissa and lori. melissa: you have to love that it is friday. i am melissa francis. lori: i am lori rothman. president obama giving his pitch for the fiscal cliff. when will the rhetoric give way to a real action on our debt crisis. juan williams on when a deal can happen.

melissa: how would you like to pay more at the pump? we have the new talk about raising the gas tax. what a great idea. lori: i love paying over four dollars a gallon. washington not the only one that cannot get a deal done. entering day 76. its small business that is really on then ice. melissa: time now for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. lauren simonetti. washington is playing politics over the fiscal cliff. we are near session lows right now. >> 11 points away from session lows. the dow is clinging onto that level right now. consumer discretionary is your best performing sector this month. it is lower today, as is technology.

the s&p 500 trying to hang onto a monthly gain. not sure if we can do it. certainly higher for the week and nasdaq higher for the both of them. a two-day chart of yelled is really interesting. they expect fourth-quarter sales in china to decline. lots of analysts cutting this stuff today. melissa: lauren, thank you very much. lori: after laying out his opening bid to fisk the fiscal cliff, -- listen to a sampling of that. >> you will see your taxes go up on january 1. i am assuming that does not sound too good for you. that is sort of like the lump of coal you before christmas.

that is a scrooge christmas. melissa: is the president right to put the blame on congress or are his demands unrealistic? joining us for the second today is juan williams. the president setting the republicans up to take the blame for all of this. >> well, you know, speaker boehner had a president here in washington. he is very clear that he is not trying to impose his real. he says tax hikes just are not good for the economy. that money should be invested. you are hearing, though, from the white house, we have already put in place a trillion dollars of cuts. we have something on the table. we are the republican proposals. we are talking politics in that nobody wants to go first and really lay out what they are

about for fear that there will be a tremendous political consequence on things like cuts to medicare. lori: those cuts, as you know, nearly not enough. the second quarter gdp reading extremely disappointed. let's just call a spade a spade. we know hurricane sandy will shave another point or so off of growth. >> i think it is. that is why despite all of this, what i think of as process, it is a lot of posturing. it is a lot of politicking. people still remain convinced that these guys cannot be serious. they cannot be serious about pushing us off the fiscal cliff because it will have bad responses to republicans. the obama people will be able to say you gave away the ability to keep taxes down on 98% of

americans. and for the president, the idea that he would allow the taxes to go up, again, on appetizing for him given that he said he would protect the american middle class. lori: he said the same thing over and over again. how do you see this sorting itself out? >> from purely a political viewpoint, i did not see why anyone would not make a deal. the fear i have is they just kick the can down the road thing and they create a three-month bridge. not the heart and soul of it which will be, as you said, some kind of tax hikes. then, you move on, in terms of the entitlement cuts. i do not think we will get the social security.

when it comes to spending and social security on the like -- that is what will happen. i do not see why people don't just make the deal. lori: how much further down the road can it go? juan williams, so nice to see you. have a nice weekend. >> thank you, lori. melissa: charlie gasparino has the latest details. he was pulling his hair during the last bit. charlie: i like juan williams a lot. why you have to raise taxes. it is purely a political thing to do. there is no rationality right now to raise taxes if you have 2.7 gdp growth. it does not make any sense.

clearly, if you want to do a tax reform deal, or you cut the deductions and you basically get your hands around some of the entitlement, i can understand that, but why you raise taxes -- listen, you make $250,000 a year, you are not a billionaire. why a small businessman who makes $250,000 a year, maybe employees 10,000 people is treated like warren buffett. melissa: it does nothing to change the gap. rich: and it hurts you more than it helps. if he answers, honestly, he will say it is class warfare. melissa: it does nothing to close the gap. charlie: now -- melissa: i feel better. charlie: they had a board meeting last night.

we put that out on fox business.com. they basically kicked the can on this one as well. they basically told virtu and getco to go back and do your due diligence. there is tom joyce. melissa: he is pretty ripped. charlie: i think he used to play football. i think virtu has about five or six fingers lined up for it. and getco to go back and it is that the 50 bed. from what i understand, it is not above 320, but it is and all

cash. it is likely to last about a week. i do not think they are ready. lori: we are following this deal so closely. charlie: knight is the leading market maker out there. it provides retail. if you trade through td ameritrade, knight plays a role in your trade. we could always learn something. melissa: charlie gasparino, thank you so much. have a great weekend. a surprising new report on the amount of taxes the top 5% of americans pay.

melissa: gas prices are up. how do you feel about paying even more? the new talk about raising the tax to avoid the fiscal cliff. ♪ those little things still get you. for you, life's about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for ily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's ght. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently.

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lori: this is no newline, we have been hearing it since at least march. the rich should pay their fair share. >> should we ask middle-class americans to pay even more at a time when their budgets are already stretched to the breaking point or should we ask some of the wealthiest americans to pay their share? lori: that drives me nuts. melissa: who gets to decide what there is? lori: new data shows the government is missing the mark on who is paying their fair share. elizabeth macdonald has been investigating this one. >> you were talking about this earlier. take a look at this. only one week, 1.5 weeks of government spending. that is a hike in the offer to

bracket, not just the top bracket. but, as for fair share, take a look at what the top 1% pace. they pay yearly 40% of all federal personal income tax. they make about a fifth of adjusted gross income. top 5% pay nearly 60% of federal personal income tax revenues. they make about a third of all income. you will see 71% is their fair share. they are responsible for about 45% of all income. the bottom 50%, their affective share is now running around 2.4%. we get it. we get that that includes senior citizens and ella terry. lori: that is a good idea. >> they are actually paying less

about pie. what will you do, if you raise government spending 4% every year, can you really raise taxes 4% every year? no. lori: if we don't have meaningful spending cuts, there is no budget deal. >> went well tax increases be called austerity. lori: if you have this huge gap, would you just look for more ways? i am being sarcastic. always a pleasure. thank you. melissa: let's check the markets. lauren simonetti is watching microsoft. >> a big loser. the number one loser right now. down 1.5%. microsoft is already looking ahead to christmas 2013.

they are set to launch a new xbox then. this codename durango. year to date, it is up 5%. the last day of the month. microsoft a big loser. back to you guys. lori: the rest of the hockey season in danger as owners and players fail to reach a deal. that is just ahead. melissa: holy auction, batman. how this can be yours. keep it right here on this channel. ♪ @ want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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>> 21 minutes past the hour, i have your fox news minute. a 55-year-old mechanic and his wife have claimed the powerball jackpot. mark and cindy hill of missouri held one of two winning tickets.

they will split the prize with whoever holds the other ticket which was sold at a convenient store and suburban phoenix. protesters in egypt are taking to the streets. the documented in bid a anger over morsy's newly founded powers. it looks like former imf chief dominique strauss kahn will be settling with the van had made that accused him of sexual assault last year. those are your news headlines. it is back to melissa and lori. melissa: thank you so much. will we avoid driving off the

fiscal cliff if we just paid a little more for the gas to get there? we are looking for revenue under every rock here. raising the gas tax is the latest. tom kloza joined those on the phone now. >> i think it is probably something that is sensible to look at. melissa: what works? this is incredibly regressive. i cannot imagine democrats embracing this. this will hit lower income americans the hardest. >> in the rural south and the rural midwest. it has not been increased since 1993. it is a fraction of what you see. here is a thought.

if you really believe and i do believe that we are probably going to be much more dependent on foreign oral and have two purdue as oil going forward, there may be a way to index it towards those u.s. numbers. melissa: is the economy growing at 8% and no one told me look back why would you raise taxes on something like this works? home values are terrible. unemployment is high. that just takes money directly away from things that people would spend money on to fuel the economy and put that in the pocket of the government. >> i would disagree with you. years ago if we would spend as

much as we well this year on gasoline that it would put the consumer right in the toilet but it has not. melissa: right now the average price is a dollar 30 higher in the past three years. in 2007 it was $2.79. >> i am not talking about $0.50 or a dollar. i am talking about something nominal. i am talking about paying one's bills. if you look at the roads in the conditions of the roads in the united states. @he revenue has dropped with a gasoline tax being what it is for 19 years. i do not play the advocacy game

i therefore or against. melissa: the last two times the gas tax was raised, it was used to pay down the deficit. >> let me give you an example of where i think it may make sense. let's take new jersey which has been too much harm very much by hurricane sandy. we do not happen to pay a lot for gasoline in new jersey because we have low state taxes. if it went to funding for the reparations from sandy, it may make sense. you cannot be dismissive of it in any case. melissa: tom kloza, always a smart card. this is the first time you are wrong. [ laughter ] i am just kidding. thank you for coming on. cheryl: what do you think it

would cost to fuel of the batmobile? the batmobile said to hit the auction block january 19 in scottsdale arizona. a price for the classic wheels has been set. they have refused to reveal it. it is expected to be in the millions. it was originally built in italy before being modified here in the states. it features everything from a bulletproof bubble windshield -- melissa: i love, tom. he is a great guy. lori: you will have to find your own sidekick to be in the passenger seat.

robin will not be included. [talking over each other] melissa: will republicans -- [talking over each other] melissa: the city of detroit running out of time and money. all options are on the table. rick jones joined those with his plan to save the city. he is calling batman. ♪

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melissa: time for stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange. lauren simonetti is standing by. footwear and apparel company genesco deep in the red today. >> yep. down nearly 8% the problem was the start to the four. their november comps down 4%. one of the reasons was superstorm sandy affected business. so they're off to a slow start for the current quarter. as for the third quarter just wrapped up, really solid numbers. profits rose by 57% in q3. they raised their numbers for the full year but genesco obviously a big loser today. back to you. melissa: thanks so much, lauren. lori: president obama finally lit up his plan for avoiding the fiscal cliff. melissa is fully in favor of it. but republicans are not taking the bait.

peter barnes is with us in d.c.. >> speakser boehner was back out in front ever the cameras the last hour splam slamming the president's proposal yet again but willing to move forward in good faith to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> there's a stalemate. let's not kid ourselves. i'm not trying to make this more difficult but if you watched me over the last three weeks i've been very guarded what i have to say. i don't want to make it harder for me or the president or members of both parties to be able to find common ground. >> as you recall the president put down his marker yesterday. repeats his demand for 1.6 trillion in new taxes next 10 years, families making more than $250,000 a year. it pays for that with 400 billion in entitlement savings. wants to extend payroll tax cut for one year. that includes 1100 billion

including 50 billion in new infrastructure spending. the president hitting the road taking a his pitch to a toy company in pennsylvania just ahead of the holiday shopping season. >> this is not some run-of-the-mill debate. this isn't about which political party can come out on top in negotiations and all of us will have to get out of our comfort zones to make that happen. i'm willing to do that. i'm hopeful that enough members of congress in both parties are willing to do that as well. >> the pet will keep up the pressure on republicans to cave on the tax issue. he will meet with governors next tuesday at the white house. he will be back with more ceos. he will give a speech to the business roundtable here in washington on wednesday. lori, and melissa. lori: we're in for a long haul. this is just painful. peter. melissa: it sure is. are the city of detroit's days numbered? my next guest certainly thinks so. joining me michigan state

senator rick jones with his ideas solving detroit's financial woes, one which would bring the city to an end. to give our audience background, detroit is having serious financial problems. they can't meet any of their financial obligations. they're depending on funds from the state. the next wrinkle they were supposed to approve a contract with a law firm to help them reorganize and they rejected that. where does it leave them? >> that leaves them on the brink of bankruptcy. what we're asking them to do start working with the governor, state of michigan, to save the city of detroit. if they go through a federal bankruptcy it will be horrible. vultures will come in and pick up the jewels of detroit. cobo hall, belle isle. detroit institute of arts could be in danger under a federal judge. melissa: why do you think, these are the milestones. there are a series of milestones they have to hit in order to get this money

released from the state. they were supposed to get this contract in order and start moving in this direction in order to get the $10 million released. they knew they weren't getting the money. just like greece and the imf. they're supposed to get, i'm sorry the european union. they're supposed to be getting this money but they don't do what is required in order to get it done. what does that tell you? >> well all i can say this is total dysfunction on the part of the city council. they refuse to work with their mayor. they refuse to work with the governor. the mayor tried to call them in. they said sorry, we're on holiday. so as the city is in peril they're on a holiday? this is time for them to come to the table. and so what i've suggested, if they don't go to the table we need to look at all the options. could one option be dissolving the city of detroit? that is possible. melissa: what does that mean for a practical point of view? what would it really mean to dissolve the city? would the mayor be out of a job? would you take over their finances? would the name detroit go

away, what would happen? >> if you dissolve the city of detroit it would be part of the wayne county the sheriff would take over police services and county would take over services just like they would in any other part of the county or the townships. melissa: so do they have the political will to be tighter with their financial budget? what would it mean for contracts? what would it mean for the bills that aren't getting paid? >> well obviously if they were dissolved bills have to be paid in another fashion. if they go through federal bankruptcy, this will be horrible for all the employees, all the retirees, and people of detroit. bankruptcy is not the best option for them. so it is time for that city council to stop the dysfunction, get to the table, work with their mayor and work with the governor and state of michigan to fix detroit before it is too late. melissa: why do you think bankruptcy is the worst option? maybe that is exactly what the doctor ordered? maybe if frees them up to take a hard look at obligations they committed to pay but simply can't

because the tax revenue is not there? >> well, detroit has lost 25% of their population over the last decade before the census. you know a person left every 22 minutes. and yet the city councils did not make the cuts. they're spending like there is no tomorrow. is bankruptcy an option? yes. it's possibly the last worst option because bankruptcy, the vultures come in. they pick over the jewels of the city and leave what's left. that would be very unfortunate for all the people. melissa: i guess. i don't know. you say vultures. it might be economic progress. senator, thanks for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. lori: question for you. game over for zynga? the stock pummeled as facebook steps up its game. melissa: and take a look at the ten year and the 30-year treasury as we head out to break here. you can see the yields on the 10-year unchanged. we'll show you the 30 too. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is steve

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lori: this is your fox business brief. stocks continue to search for direction on this the last trading day of the month. right now the dow is down 14 points but still holding above 13,000. chevron and transocean reportedly agreed to change their offshore and safety operating procedures part of brazilian lawsuit seeking 20 billion in damages relating to a november 2012 oil spill. according to the reuters the agreement was drafted at the request for both companies with the federal prosecutors handling two civil lawsuits against them. seattle-based boeing looking to enter federal mediation talks with one of its union.

23,000 member engineer group nowhere close to agreeing on pay raise and pensions. if no agreement is reached a strike is possible at the beginning of the year. that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper

melissa: oil up only slightly but on track for the first monthly gain since august so can it hold on? phil flynn the price futures group in the pits of the cme with the latest. >> despite some headwinds it is one of the few commodities going higher today. we have a lot going on. it is end of the month. people are concerned being short going into the weekend with increasing political risk. senate passed another amendment to put more sanctions on i iran. you have tensions in egypt and expect big refinery runs next week. we had high march begins on

heating oil and supplies have been relatively tight. that means those runs willing good. the demand for oil should be good next week. the other big market today is natural gas. it is balmy down here in chicago. it is warmer than normal. temperatures are down pretty dramatically and so are the prices after the surprise build yesterday. natural gas is down, oh, another 7, 8 cents right now. the other big thing today, big news on natural gas. the energy information administration just reported a another record high in u.s. production. that's right. in the month of september this country produced more natural gas than they ever have before. another sign of the changing energy dynamic in this country. very excited about that record high. i'm going to go celebrate all weekend. melissa: no, definitely not. phil flynn of the price futures group. he is just a happy guy. lori: i love that spirit. talk tech now.

zynga, the creator of "farmville" and facebook announced today they are ending a long-standing partnership. what does the future look like for zynga? shibani joshi is covering the story. can people still annoy you requesting the game app? >> absolutely. this is not quite like unfriending someone on facebook but giving someone limited profile aspect to your facebook page, creating distance between you and that other person. we're talking about companies here and facebook is doing that with zynga. what it filed in the 8-k yesterday, zynga did the same thing, they are amending the partnership to give unexclusive access to one another. they no longer have this binding exclusive relationship. zynga shares are down almost six 1/2%. facebook not reacting postively as well. in these filings, i basically parsed it out exactly what will happen. zynga can develop dwams games for other sites. they're not obligated to use facebook display ads or payment system and games are

not exclusive to facebook. facebook gets to code and develop their own games. however at the same time, that, business, you don't like those games? melissa: you know. they are annoying. we may be over a certain age unfortunately. lori: that is nice way to put it. >> you're not in the target demo audience. melissa: 12 to 15, i don't know. >> i don't think anyone is in this building if that is the case. facebook maintains it will not become a competitor to zynga anytime soon here. in a statement i was able to gain from the company said, they said, we will continue to work with zynga to build great experiences for people playing social games through facebook. we're not in the business of building games. they don't want to build more games. they're focused on being a platform where games and apps are built. they don't want to be their foe or the other side of the table but i would only argue it is only a matter of time. you don't go through this trouble to change this relationship. i think this is kind of good for both companies.

i think the biggest criticism against zynga as you both know, for so long it is so tied to the ups and downs to facebook. this is taking the training wheels off and making it a stand-alone company which investors in sync ga is waiting for. this is a little scary. where else do you go? you don't play games on twitter. they will have to find their own. lori: braving new world of tech. thank you. >> maybe no more "farmville". melissa: it is a quarter to. as we do every 15 minutes let's check the markets. lauren simonetti on the floor of new york stock exchange. >> investors don't seem to like groupon today. the fact they are keeping the 32-year-old founder and ceo andrew mason on board. he was a music major in college. a lot of people say he doesn't have enough business experieece but i guess the board thinks he does. they're hanging on to him for now. if you look at this stock year-to-date, this is

unbelievable. groupon is down 80%. definitely one of the biggest losers and losing ground today as well. back to you. melissa: all right. lauren, thanks so much. we're now 76 dies into the national hockey league's lockout. lori: have you noticed? melissa: yeah. lori: this is going to be my question here. americans we love our nfl. we love our baseball but hockey? does the nhl americans, most americans, really? the league itself is losing big. $20 million per day but they aren't the only losers. the massive cost of the standoff between owners and players next.

lori: let's talk hockey or what's left of it. probably nothing. what is left of the nhl season may be on thin ice. get this, negotiators $182 million away from a deal. not only the players and owners are losing. small businesses are feeling the pinch in areas surrounding, areas like, in buffalo. we have a lot of hotels there, players and fans, sabres play there. they have already lost according to these hotels upwards to $2 million. with two days of federal mediation failing to help, sb nation senior correspondent amy nelson tells me why she thinks this will be a very long fight.

amy, welcome to you. >> thank you. lori: let's be honest the nhl is nothing like the nfl or major league baseball in terms of money it general rates and fan interest it generates. what is your take on both sides, are they being greedy and ridiculous here not working this out to this point? >> i think that is the perception with any labor fight when it comes to professional sports in this country. fans have little sympathy for billion dollar owners and multimillion-dollar players. the problem for the nhl as you mentioned by far the least popular sport out of the four major sports in this country and quite franklyly they're running out of time. if they don't solve the issue and these issues fast, there will not be a season. if there is not going to be a season that is not good for the future of the league. lori: right. we are throwing out some numbers here. $182 million a part. we talk about billion dollar revenue. doesn't sound like a whole lot of money. give me some perspective there. >> it may not sound like a

whole lot of money. it is not just the money, there are other issues that have to be settled. normally the money is the baseline issue and all the other ancillary issues, usually they can come together. lori: the entire league is at risk, right, being dissolved? are we to that point yet? can you go that far? >> there will be a owners board meeting here in new york city on wednesday. it is never good federal mediators step away from both sides saying we're done. we can't do anything. the meeting with owners will foretell what potentially could be happening between both sides. lori: i don't mean to be so down on the nhl but who are the stars? think of wayne gretzky, mario lemieux. >> he hasn't played in a while. lori: that's my point, who are the active stars? the league is not doing anything to generate interest in the u.s. why should we care is they're having labor troubles. >> my former employer doesn't have rights to the nhl, if they better or worse controls a lot of sports

conversation. when espn is not paying attention to the nhl --. lori: because they didn't want to pay for the nhl. >> they made a business decision that is not worth it to us. when they're not having regular conversations with highlights or roundtables shows dethe voted to the nhl, the national conversation is not happening. that is very bad thing. lori: ripple effect for economy. hotel industry in buffalo particularly losing $2 million. this ripple effect is continuing. >> that is false narrative perpetuated by media over the years whenever there is labor stoppage with one of the leagues. the reason why, if you read studies economists have done over the years you talk to economists quite frankly there isn't a massive economic downturn. lori: right. >> if you look at small businesses across the arenas, yes, there are thousands people, pockets of people are for sure feeling the pinch. the fact that there are no games this season overall for each city and each culture there is not any evidence --. lori: even more reason not to care about hockey exempt

for liz claman who is a great hockey fan i know. sorry. thank you, amy. >> you're welcome. melissa: so what is in a name? potentially a lot of money. that is what one florida man believes and the reason he is is auctioning off his last name. earlier this month jason sandler launched his website, my last name.com. to date, 22 companies placed a bid. so far i was surprised by this. the highest bid is $34,500. by j lab audio. what gives? is sadler sick about his last name or a shameless publicity stunt? both actually. he is 30 years old he said he never been that attached to his name. good promotion for his internet company and the auction ends december 12th. sadler will legally change his name for one year in the state of florida as well as on his twitter, facebook and youtube accounts as well. he actually makes a lot of money doing this. if you looked at this article, he had a lot of

good ideas. worn t-shirts and this and that to advertise difficult companies. a smart guy. lori: they ever . clever. never not of that. mark hill in missouri big winners, holding one of two powerball tickets wore worth $192 million. ,000 they pick numbers, because the numbers line up nicely for fans of kansas city royal. the uniform numbers of royals greats, george brett, number five, mark gubicza, number 23, bo jackson, we know him 16, dennis leonard, 22 and dan questions send berry, 29 and willie wilson 26. he says it is coincidence. they use ad quick pick. that was no quick pick to score the winning digits. those are a lot of players. a lot of numbers in a town so close to where kansas city --. melissa: congratulations to them. coming up tonight on "money", lauren fix, the car coach,

joins me to discuss the new warning out by aaa about e-15 higher ethanol gas. i will give you a hint. triple case, do not use it! that is no night at 5:00 p.m. eastern on fox business. aaa and the epa going head-to-head. be careful what gas you buy. lori: news you can use for sure. another round of public bashes on the fiscal cliff. is there any chance to reach a deal before the new year? gerald seib weighs in with tracy byrnes and ashley webster next on fox business. don't miss it copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both.

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tracy: good afternoon, i'm tracy byrnes. ashley: and i'm ashley webster. house speaker boehner says fiscal cliff talks, well, they have gone, quote, almost nowhere. that is encouraging, isn't it? when will both sides finally make progress towards a deal? "wall street journal's"

gerald seib met with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. he will be here to tell us what he had to say. tracy: i'm excited. new study says which americans pay the most in taxes and probably not who you think or maybe it is. it raises questions who is really not paying their fair share. ashley: i think it is me by the way. if fiscal cliff wasn't bad enough, food prices will spike in the new year, you remember the drought, plus inaction in congress will cost you more at the checkout. tracy: i remember jeff flock out in those fields right? ashley: can't forget that. tracy: time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. lauren simonetti on the floor of new york stock exchange today. we got another sign of consumer weakness, didn't we? >> tracy and ashley, consumer spending fell in october, first decline in five months that is keeping a cap on stocks. all three major averages in the red. dow turned positive for the week and dow and s&p 500 up

for two weeks in a row. as for the month the s&p is hanging onto a monthly gain by two points right now but the dow is certainly negative for the month of november. with a day like this, flat trading we could definitely see the markets eke out a gain in the next two hours. so ending the day positive. you never know. and, you know, we're hoping for a santa claus rally in december, which is tomorrow, crazy. tracy: crazy. which means i actually have to do some holiday shopping. >> you're behind, tracy. you're behind. tracy: economy, here i come. >> watch out. ashley: she is hitting the streets. thanks very much, lauren. appreciate it. the battle over the fiscal cliff, certainly heating up. house speaker john boehner says the two sides are at a stalemate. no big surprise. while president obama says the only thing holding up the deal is quote a handful of republicans. here we go again. peter barnes in washington with the latest on the stalemate. peter? >> that's right, ash. speaker boehner said a

stalemate, quote, let's not kid ourselves for punctuation. he and the president were both out in front of cameras today to try to convince voters that both of them are ready to keep talking. >> i'm willing to move forward in good faith. our original framework still stand. instead of raising tax rates we can produce similar amount of revenue, reforming the tax code to close loopholes and lower tax rates. >> this is not some run-of-the-mill debate. this isn't about which political party can come out on top in negotiations. and all of us will have to get out of our comfort zones to make that happen. i'm willing to do that. i'm hopeful that enough members of congress in both parties are willing to do that as well. >> now as you know yesterday secretary geithner presented the president's plan, his marker, on all this to republican leaders demanding

1.6 trillion in new taxes over 10 years for families making more than 250,000 a year. he does include about $400 billion in cuts, in savings and medicare and medicaid and other entitlements over that period. the president also wants to extend the current payroll tax cut for workers for another year. that would cost about 100 billion. he proposed billions in new stimulus measures including 50 billion for new infrastructure spending. the president will keep up the pressure on republicans to cave in events next week on tuesday. he will be meeting with the governors, with some governors. on wednesday he is going back to the ceo's. he is going to talk to the business roundtable which is made up of 200 or so corporate ceos. ashley and tracy. ashley: all right. thank you very much, peter barnes in d.c. on the latest inaction. tracy: i don't get the math on all that though. ashley: no. tracy: stimulus spending will help the fiscal cliff. our first guest just finished up a mead meeting

with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. gerry seib is "wall street journal" washington bureau chief. we're dying to know what he said? what did he say? >> he said several things and we have story on the website that summarizes all of this. first of all his reaction to the geithner proposal today was to laugh at it. comical and essentially a nonstarter. in his view the ball remains in the president's court. that is what you would expect. secondly he said nothing better is going on in private. it is not as if there is some quiet talks going on he said, that have a better tone than what we've been hearing the last 48 hours. thirdly, really intriguingly, here is what we're looking for from the white house on entitlements, on steps to rein in spending on entitlement programs. republicans have been saying we're waiting for something to happen on spending so that we can then maybe have a more meaningful conversation on revenues on the other side. we asked him what does that mean? it means we're looking for changes in the eligibility level for social security

and medicare to make them more affordable over the long run. that means things like perhaps raising eligibility age for medicare. maybe charging slightly higher premiums for americans better off for medicare and slowing down cost of living increases for social security. if those things happen to republicans, those kinds of changes in entitlement translate into more willingness to talk about revenues. that is probably an encouraging sign because it lends some special fisty to this tradeoff, revenues versus entitlement changes. ashley: maybe more room for discussion on the revenue side but are republicans able to accept the higher tax rates on 250,000 and higher? is that negotiable? will they ever accept 250,000? >> that is the key question and the answer to that is still no. senator mcconnell made it clear that the answer is still no. there may be wiggle room on that. say you don't change the rates or change the rates slightly but not all the way

up to the clinton rates 39.6% at the top. maybe that is one way out. maybe you raise rates but carve out certain people. carve out small businesses and s-corporations and lccs so they don't go up on small businesses even if they go up on individuals. there may be ways to finesse that. right now republicans want to talk about revenues, not rates. that is the big sticking point you're right. tracy: washington coming out saying they want to spend more money, extend payroll tax cuts, do stimulus spending to help the economy to boot. seems just counter productive. >> revenues that we're talking about here way outstrip whatever you would spend on stimulus. they're talking about $50 billion in stimulus next year. that may be a nonstarter. i don't think that tips the arithmetic all that much, particularly when stacked up against a trillion or more in revenues over the next 10 years. the big struggle here is really tax rates versus enlightment changes. there is some, there is some glimmers of hope there but this week is not been overall very helpful on

suggesting there is a way to square that circle. ashley: very quickly, gerry, in past years, stalemate is nothing unusual in washington, d.c. in past years, reagan and tip o'neill coming to a compromise, clinton, gingrich. i don't get a sense from obama and boehner there is any compromise at this point. >> well, not now. this may be the week to shout at each other. maybe the it next two weeks are the weeks to get beyond shouting and come together. i think you're right on the dynamic. this in the end everybody seems to agree a deal with boehner. others are players. those are the two main players and they have to figure out how to get things done. tracy: like war of the roses. gerry seib, washington bureau chief of "the wall street journal." thank you, gerry. good stuff. >> thank you very much. ashley: coming up stunning new numbers where america's tax burden hits the hardest. liz macdonald will be here next with that story. tracy: ashley mentioned it earlier, drought conditions turning worse around the country.

how will it impact your grocerisy bill if it isn't high enough? as we do every time this time of day see how oil is trading. up slightly. $88.91 a barrel. we'll be right back

tracy: so president obama

continuing to push tax hikes on the rich as part of the big fiscal cliff deal but will raising taxes on the wealthy actually help the government in covering its debts? i'm thinking not. liz macdonald is here with her bottom line. >> take a wild guess. if you raise rate on two top brackets how much does it bring in? it brings in '82 billion. guess how much in terms of government spending in term of time frame it covers, a month, a year? ashley: five minutes? >> pretty close, ashley. look at this. ashley: what is it? >> covers 1 1/2 weeks of government spending at current rates. ashley: that's it. >> when we talk about the fair share, tracy and ashley, you never hear the president say this what the top 1% pay. in other words what their fair share. look at this, 37% of the top 1% is responsible for in terms of personal income tax revenue. they pay, they earn just one fifth, just one fifth of adjusted gross income. moving along top 5%, nearly

60% of the personal income tax revenue. ashley: comes from the top 5%. >> top five%. they earn a third of adjusted gross income. top 10% pay 71%. tracy: who are these people? who is the break down. >> talking about upper brackets. ashley: top 10% of earners in this country pay 70% of the federal taxes? >> that's right. so they make about 45% of the income. the issue too is, you heard talk about the bottom 50% what they pay. they pay 2.4% of the federal tax pie. less than half what they were paying in 2001. the issue though, here, we have a lot of senior citizens, a lot of poor people. tracy: earned income tax credit. >> military veterans. we get it. we want to help the poor. that is the issue. tracy: not like that. >> of course you have to help the poor. the thing is, if you increase government spending 4% a year, can you increase taxes 4% a year, right? ashley: yeah. >> can you do that?

no. ashley: doesn't make sense. >> by the way when do federal tax hikes going to be called austerity like spending cuts are austerity. ashley: that is great point. tracy: i still think the earned income tax credit is part of the problem. people purposely keep incomes low in order to qualify for it. >> top 1%, president will not acknowledge this, we have yet to hear any democrat really acknowledge. their share of the federal tax pie has doubled since 1980. we have really progressive tax code. ashley: still not enough apparently. >> there you go. tracy: we're missing that in the big speeches, liz macdonald. >> really wanted to jump in on this. tracy: it fires me up. ashley: no big surprise there. emac, thank you very much. appreciate that. it is quarter past the hour. let's go to the floor of the new york stock exchange as we do every 15 minutes. lauren simonetti is there. looking at major movers on a day with the dow drifting slightly lower. >> parent of yum brand, taco bell, kfc, yum! brands stock

selling off. issuing a warning on china where they do half their business. warning on sales there. the stock is actually down substantially after yesterday closing at its highest level in history. quite a selloff today. also i guess a lot of people are getting their haircut. ulta salons, cosmeticses and fragrances putting in good third quarter numbers. profits up 43%. stock is up substantially and up 54% this year. getting a couple of upgrades. back tooyou. ashley: thank you very much. lauren, we'll be back with you in 15 minutes. tracy: it has been a rough road for stocks since the election to say the least. so will they finish strong in 2012? we'll talk with one strategist who has her doubts. ashley: fiscal cliff. the dollar, it is moving. these are the currencies what they're doing against the green back. euro gaining strength in europe. the pound down slightly

against the dollar. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nd he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't roet science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

>> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm arthel neville with your fox news minute.

police in casper, wyoming, say three people are dead following a apparent homicide at a communitt college according to a published report. two victims were found at casper college and a third at another location in the city. associated press said one person was taken into custody who was injured. senate voted to expand sanctions over iran's nuclear program. over the port building and shipbuilding second, to. the move comes after iran says it may quit an anti-arms pact if its nuclear facilities were attacked. a new york city police officer knows the holiday spirit first-hand. the officer gave boots to a homeless man on a cold night after it went viral on the nypd facebook page. officer deprimo discussed his act of charity on fox and friend this morning. >> you get calls from all over the world, people say

thank you. you can't help but be humble about it. it is amazing people respect something i considered such a small helping hand. >> i love that. and those are your news headlines on the fox business network. back to ashley and tracy. guys, that is the sort of spirit i wish could prevail throughout the year. ashley: very much. if it wasn't for some tourists i think they were from arizona, took the pictures and sent them onto the police department we would have never have known. it is nice that story came out. tracy: yet a guy like that doesn't want you to know. >> he didn't do it for any publicity, absolutely. ashley: very humble. great stuff. arthel neville. thank you so much. oil up for the second straight day and on track for its first monthly gain since august. phil flynn of price futures group deep in the pits of the cme with the very latest. phil, oil recovering from some losses overnight in asia. >> it really is. i think it is always fascinating to see what markets are going up and what markets are going down

on the last day of the month. usually on the last day of the month commodity fund want to lock in the profits. they want to get paid fees at end of the month. when you get a quiet day you see markets going down. i think it is telling that oil is putting in impressive 75 cent rally at end of the day. they're doing this in spite of the fact some other commodities are getting crushed. look at silver for example. they are getting smashed today, down over a $1.16. could that be because of worries about the fiscal cliff, concerns about a stronger dollar? perhaps but it is probably more, i think it is more profit-taking at the end of the month. a lot of uncertainty. people are worried about the fiscal cliff. silver will be under pressure and so will gold. look at gold today, down 17.30. even though a lot of markets weren't reacting to every headline in the fiscal cliff today i think the silver traders and the gold traders take a lot of profits.

the other big market today, natural gas. warmer than normal temperatures and record u.s. production. let's go frackers, yahoo!. they're doing a great job job with that and bringing prices back down. right now natural gas prices hitting 3.57. down 6:00 cents. a good way to end the week. ashley: it is, phil. thank you so much. tracy: phil is a good way to end the week. stocks holding onto their gains of 2012. the s&p 500 is up nearly 13% but our next guest says it will not end that way. we have an institutional equity strategist with wells fargo security. you have a lower call on the s&p, don't you? >> i do. i think stocks might correct a touch from here. in my view we've been in a bit of a oversold bounce since early november. we got incredibly oversold in the two weeks since the election. there hasn't been earnings pressure. i know it boil downs to

earnings. we're captivated by the what happens in washington and fiscal cliff. through the third quarter earnings season we had massively negative news. that weighed on the stocks. lack of negativity allowed us to have a bit of a bounce back. in reality earnings continue to slow. earnings will continue to slow the next couple of quarters. that probably pulls us back to reality. tracy: you're calling for 1360 you say it has a lot to do with earnings, well, because business investment is slowing? >> right. tracy: will we see a kitchen sink quarter, blame superstorm sandy, blame china, fiscal cliff gives me the right to have bad numbers? >> probably. we probably see a pretty rough fourth quarter in general. the question for me looking past that fourth quarter what do we see the first quarter next year? investors will start positioning for 2013 as a whole and our 2013 call is slow growth in earnings. 3% growth in earnings next year. the one big game changer could be unfortunately the

fiscal policy effort. fiscal policy can act to reinvigorate continents and risk taking in the economy could reaccelerate the economy more we expect in 2013. longer we delay more economic impact we have and that is starting to weigh on our earnings estimates. >> your client tele, pension funds, hedge funds, institutional investors. what do those guys say what is going on? >> try to weigh all the different data points coming in. it is difficult to get a read through as you mentioned on the fourth quarter because of the hurricane. tracy: right. >> there is generalized improvement in housing but nobody is really sure how long tailed that improvement might be. if the economy is really decelerating in the short term. i would say we're getting a feel where we're headed in 2013. investors are loathe to avoid equities because the fed is clearly backstopping from a monetary perspective but at the same time they're somewhat afraid what could happen at the fiscal level. tracy: you're having to move into more defensive sectors in the s&p. does that mean you say take

gains now while taxes are somewhat certain and move yourself into sectors like health care and things like that? >> generally i think the defensive sectors offer a much better prospects for 2013. our earnings models suggest, health care, utilities, staples, consumer discretionary even, some more defensive oriented names in the index will probably have stable growth into 2013. tracy: right. >> that looks pretty good compared to technology, industrials, energy, materials, some high pliers of index where earnings are decelerating. tracy: thank you. wells fargo securities analyst. thanks for being with us. >> sure, thank you. ashley: instead of cutting government spending ahead of the fiscal cliff president obama wants to raise it by billions of dollars. does tax-and-spend work? gerri willis will help us break it down. i have a feeling i think what she feels. tracy: yeah, really. look at some winners and losers on the s&p 500 as we head out to break. the dow is practically flat

right now. advanced micro devices up 5%. costco. tiffany on the downside one of your losers, down 2 1/2%. we'll be right back. ♪

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that accepts medicare patients. and you neveneed referrals. so call now to request a free decision guide and learn more. after all, when you're going the distan, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. ashley: great site here in new york city. it is 30 past the hour. tracy: they are holiday balls. ashley: okay. [ laughter ] lauren simonetti on the floor of the nyc. >> let's ask bobby heller.

we have the market higher just about a minute ago. >> i thought we would be writing the rallies the next few days. the gdp numbers look pretty good. when you first saw them, you were saying could this really be. i find it hard to believe that the overall economy is doing better. >> speaking of the santa claus rally, will the fiscal cliff kill any type of santa claus rally that we will have? >> i think we will fall off the fiscal cliff and the republicans will have an easier job with tax to their constituents. >> back to you guys. tracy: way to show christmas cheer. if you wake up monday morning

expecting big progress, you were way wrong. you should have gone back to bed. gerri willis, host of "the willis report," is here to break it down. gerri: last night, for the first time, we got a real look at what the president is proposing. everybody threw up their hands. ashley: aman said today he just burst out laughing. gerri: just how crazy this is, the president has proposed getting rid of the debt ceiling. getting rid of the checkbook. it does not matter anymore. this is not balance what he is proposing. he wants savings of just 400 billion. that is not balance. john boehner came out and said this is not workable.

we are going nowhere fast. we have to get somewhere soon. you are asking where is the republican plan, well, speaker of the house john boehner, put it on the table, we will talk about revenues. we will talk about tax revenues. prd said 800 billion is where his number is. [talking over each other] ashley: the interesting point is, they will not discuss tax break height. gerri: what they said is -- our position has been all along, no increase in revenues. this was a huge turnaround for the republicans. i think you have already scene

more movement out of the republicans than the democrats. tracy: they want to see movement on that internal entitlement program as well. it all makes sense. gerri: the easiest way to solve this problem is just to pull back slightly on entitlement spending. it would make a huge difference. it solves so many problems. we were talking about earlier, it is so interesting to watch, to people that hate each other have to somehow -- ashley: [talking over each other] gerri: figuring out how to deal with social security. that is what they did. tracy: they were not thinking. gerri: my choice is jack

daniels. tracy: wow. look at you. don't miss the gerri willis report this evening. she may be drinking. [ laughter ] ashley: all right. zynga. the company behind games like farmville and words with friends getting a status update on facebook. what does this mean for the future of the developer. >> i was thinking every time gerri willis says fiscal cliff, tracy byrnes has to drink. tracy: that is a great idea. >> tracy weighs like 100 pounds. all right. from the drinking games too, i guess, online games. breaking up is always hard to

do. the two deciding to part ways a little bit, not entirely. the company posting filings yesterday after the closing that they will mend a 2000 agreement that makes zynga minimize their losses down 4.2%. they spoke flipped into the green. a rough road for both of these companies last year. basically what they have decided is zynga will no longer be bound specifically to be big game platform for facebook. it does not even have to use its payment system. in return, i guess, facebook will be able to start coding games itself. they spoke, according to a statement i got, is in no rush to turn itself into a zynga competitor. "we are not in the business of building games and we have no plans to do so. we are focused on being the

platform where games and applications are being built. sometime in the future it will get into this business some way, somehow. ashley: shibani joshi, thank you so much. tracy: that should be the new drinking game. we have some breaking news. oil closing up for the day. ninety-one cents a barrel. for all of november, oil jumped 3%. ashley: you can tell it is friday here. coming up, fighting to design the ultimate cop car. you do not want to see one of these in your rearview mirror. tracy: let's take a look at your tent and 30 year treasuries. your tent here is unchanged and your 30 year is up slightly.

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>> good afternoon. i am sandra smith with your fox business brief. stocks continued to search for direction on the last trading day of the month. american airline's parent company amr looking for more time to submit a bankruptcy restructuring plan. the airline along with its credit, extending it to march march 11. earlier this year, amr would prefer to exit, but discussing merger options. aaa is urging regulators to stop -- citing potential for consumers for vehicle damage.

that is the latest from up fox business network. if you the power to prosper. ♪

ashley: most automakers are using the los angeles auto show to debut new models to hit the road. one company just wants its design of the ultimate cop car. but can it catch me? >> this is not the winner for jaime, but it will catch you if you are driving through traffic in new york city. better be careful. this is one of the new ones being shown off at the auto show. this is from mercedes-benz. you can see it has very high clearance all the way around. big tires.

all sorts of special features. they all have some sort of fuel cell. it fairly radically would get its power from above. >> we have this hydro tech on the roof. it stores water. there is a chemical reaction where it produces hydrogen. we see the hydrogen into the fuel cell. >> we came up with a vehicle that basically holds these moto drones. they can rush to the rescue of an accident victim or send gps signal back to rescuers. >> those are just some of the ideas from the six different car companies. subaru one. when you talk to the california highway patrol, of course, it

has been shown off in a number of movies and tv shows. when you talk to them, they were very excited that the companies were in to looking at the possibility of what a futuristic police car may look like. >> we are about ready to turn the corner to have vehicles that can operate and drive by themselves. whoever thought ten years ago we would be talking about that type of technology. in anything we can do, not just officers. i think we have to embrace him push forward. i think it starts here. >> some of the concepts even include drones. 2025-2050 is when you will see some of these things on the roadway or potentially right above you in the air. ashley: thank you so much.

very good. thank you. tracy: i want one of those cars that drive itself to get my kids around. now, to the best story of the day. a poor -- porn studio, when do i get to say that on air. everybody makes parodies of movies in the porn world. >> they sure do. it is a nice legal loophole. let's call this the 50 shades of porn. comcast sues a small porn competitor.

a legit movie, if you can call it that, based on the huge selling book, if you can call it a book rather than a long penthouse forum. the book itself has sold an astounding 65 million copies a round the world for publisher random house. it sold almost 20 million copies in the first four months. it took three years to get that mark for the bestseller of "the girl with the dragon tattoo." universal suing a small competitor. this is a ripoff. they are keenly similar. the case raises an interesting legal issues. the court have ruled that porn. he is a protected speech. star wars triple x, is a parody.

that studio also put out a superman, spiderman matchup. those are easily recognizable as a parodies. the problem with "50 shades of gray" is that the original is so filthy itself it is hard to know that and x-rated parody is not the real thing. we have to see how this turns out. tracy: we will have to see it. you are right about that. we will have to see it to research. don't you think? >> you cover the clip. ashley: thank you so much. interesting. tracy: i do not think the covers look anything alike. who would know. ashley: it is a quarter till. time for stocks now. lauren simonetti has had to follow some interesting stories

today. >> i have been keeping track. drinking games, porn studios and christmas balls. [ laughter ] a company giving a tax dividend to $0.20. that is payable january 25 of the new year. unlike all of these companies trying to get ahead of the fiscal cliff. they are all trying to get up ahead of january 1 and then you have aetna going past january. ashley: thank you so much, lord. tracy: did aetna not get the memo. coming up, a one-two punch for american shoppers. about to send prices even higher once again. ashley: let's take a look at some of the winners and losers.

we have some winners out there. kosko of nearly two dollars on the day. apollo group down nearly 2%. sears down nearly 3%. we will be right back. ♪

tracy: we have some breaking news. this management and potential security briefs at the sec. peter: this is a new report from the inspector general which

found after an investigation that several laptop computers were left unprotected. this happened, of all places in the computer security lab at the division of trading and markets which oversees the nation's stock exchange. there is no evidence that any sensitive information was compromised. the laptops were reported lost or stolen. any of the unprotected laptops could have been compromised in that inspector general found evidence that the unprotected laptops were left unattended in hotel rooms and offices outside of the sdc. and sometimes connected to wireless hotel that works. tracy: peter barnes, that is a little scary. even i know not to connect to a wireless connection at a hotel.

peter barnes, thank you so much. tracy: the u.s. is experiencing the worst level of drought and a year now. just part of this problem. what kind of impact could it have on your grocery store fill? probably not that good. wayne, we talked a lot about the drought. we know that it, i believe, it started in oklahoma and spread to the west. is it still an issue. it is pretty obvious that people start to forget about the overall impacts of the drought. even though winter wheat crop in the united states today, you know, a condition situation of the worst in three decades.

overall, we are entering this winter. and as we mooe into spring is really negative for crop yields. grain supply has been cut. a lot of those guys head out for six-ten months. those guys that hedged around june of this year, probably about six dollars a bushel. and in corn spiked to eight dollars a bushel and now it is back to about 7.50 a bushel. they will have to purchase these at a high price. that will be affected through restaurants and on food bills.

ashley: is there anything that can turn this around? >> as we enter winter now, into the dormancy. , what we really need to see is improving conditions as we go into spring next year. to get that crop off to a really good start. what could change prices over the next few months is potential for very large crops in latin america. as a result, we really need to be seeing better rainfall and latin america, particularly, in brazil. so tough when you are relying on mother nature. thank you so much. these higher prices could be hitting the grocery stores, certainly as we get into next year.

tracy: good timing. liz claman will take us to the next hour of trading. "countdown to the closing bell" is next. ♪ ♪

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